Crime on campus in the month of February

Crime activity on campus in the month of February includes a missing person incident, marijuana possession, public intoxication and invasion of privacy.

Missing Person

On Feb. 16, a mother reported her daughter missing to University Police. The 2-year-old daughter went missing in the Arboretum. Police immediately contacted Arboretum staff and extra resources from Fullerton and Placentia police to support the search, said Capt. Scot Willey of the University Police.

The space was put on lock down. One gate was left open with a community service officer and police officer posted to monitor it. Within approximately half an hour the child was found by a volunteer near an outhouse by the Heritage House, Willey said.

“She had gone in there and when she was trying to come out, the door had locked on her from the outside. She wasn’t able to open the door from the inside. The people who were walking by looking for her heard her crying from the inside. They were able to get her out,” he said.

Arboretum staff closed down that outhouse to figure out what had occurred, and prevent it from happening again.

Invasion of Privacy

On Feb. 6, University Police released the details of a male subject wanted for an ongoing invasion of privacy case that occured in Pollak Library. The subject was described as Asian or Hispanic, approximately 5 feet, 10 inches tall and about 160 pounds.

Looking to identify a male subject in an ongoing invasion of privacy case that occurred 2/6/19 at approx. 3:53 p.m. The subject has been seen in and around the @pollaklibrary. Asian or Hispanic male, glasses, medium build, approx. 5ft. 10in. tall and weighs about 160lbs. @csufpic.twitter.com/OBLjlgckKk

University Police has yet to find the subject but have leads, Willey said.

“We have quite a few, probably around a dozen that we’re looking at,” Willey said. “We’re going to keep following the leads. As of right now, we don’t have anyone in custody or anybody that we could tell you that is our person of interest.”

Willey said he could not provide more details regarding the investigation or the case until the subject is in custody in order not to jeopardize it.

Marijuana Possession

Two students aged 18 and 19 were reported smoking marijuana in a dorm structure and in possession of 28.5 grams of marijuana on Feb. 12. The individuals were given disciplinary notices.

“That was probably mostly for violating a smoking policy, because right now marijuana is not illegal. It’s more about them smoking on a campus that doesn’t allow smoking,” Willey said. “If it’s the first time, it’s not an issue.”

Public Intoxication

University Police reported an individual intoxicated in the Titan Student Union on Feb. 11. They do not deal with incidents like this all the time, Willey said.

“We don’t have a bar right now in the TSU and so that’s not something that we really see a lot from there. It kind of depends on what the holiday is and if there’s people coming back from parties where we might run into drivers that are DUI But again, most of those are off-campus people that we deal with,” Willey said.

Spring Crime

Willey said that a higher crime rate usually occurs during fall and spring because people know most students are not on campus during summer and winter.

“During the semesters are when things kick up. The criminals out there know when our students come back. They know when they’re going away on vacation or spring break. They know when it’s finals week, and they know that students are really focused on their studying and may not pay attention to leaving a laptop around,” Willey said.

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